. >> that is true and they note president obama campaigned on upper income americans paying more so they intend to make sure that happens. the house democratic leader says the only obstacle is republicans refusing to ask the top 2% to pay more. >> this is a moment of truth. the clock is ticking. christmas is coming. the goose is getting fat. but in many homes across america, it's very -- very very lean time. >> after talking to reporters leader pelosi went to the white house to meet with the president over what's described as a number of issues. >> shepard: mike, the republicans have insisted from the very beginning that this goes well beyond the tax issue. >> shep, you are right, indeed speaker boehner says taxing high income people does not fix our massive fiscal mess. >> even if the president got the tax rate hike that he wanted, understand that we would continue to see trillion-dollar deficits for as far as as the eye can see. listen. washington has got a spending problem, not a revenue problem. >> and with the debt at $16 trillion and counting, boehner says the government cannot tax